Heat-Sum Calculation in Forecasting Maize Phenological Stages and Harvesting Date in Lagos South West, Nigeria
Journal Title: Journal of Geography, Environment and Earth Science International - Year 2017, Vol 13, Issue 3
Abstract
Maize production is of primary importance in the world, especially considering that its cultivation takes up one of the greatest ratios of land used for agricultural production.Based on analysis of rainfall pattern and thermal regime, maize phenological stages and harvesting dates has been investigated with the use of heat-sum calculation along with the seasonal rainfall forecast by NIMET in relation to maize crop production. Data were collected from Agro-meteorological Observatory of Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Oshodi Lagos, Nigeria. Maize phenological records were collected during the period between 2005 and 2010. Also, information obtained includes phenological records for ten different period of maize crop forecast. The monthly mean values of all parameters were further averaged to obtain the annual mean. Microsoft Excel was used to show the correlation between these parameters rainfall, temperature and crop yield data between 1995 and 2010. Heat-sum calculation was employed as a forecasting guide of growing phase of maize crop and harvesting date in the study area. Graph of the yield were plotted against temperature and rainfall. Results show the length of growing-period with use of heat sum calculation and harvesting date of maize crop grown was forecasted. Results show that maize crop could be grown with the use of crop weather calendar considering life history and mean dates of important epoch of crop growth and development of maize phonological stages, sowing to germination, germination to emergence, emergence to 3rd leaf, 3rd leaf to 9th leaf, 9th leaf to tasselling, tasselling to flowering, flowering to soft dough, soft dough to hard dough, hard dough to harvesting dates with total number of 73 days. Heat units, expressed in growing days are frequently used to describe the timing of biological processes. The basic equation used was HS = [(TMAX + TMIN)/2]−TBASE, where TMAX and TMIN are daily maximum and minimum air temperature, respectively, and TBASE is the base temperature. The methods of interpreting this equation for calculating heat-sum is if the daily mean temperature is less than the base, it is set equal to the base temperature or if TMAX or TMIN < TBASE they are reset equal to TBASE. Average rainfall observed was 30mm in 10 days with duration of wet spell > 4 days. High wind exceeded 40knot. The minimum temperature recorded was 10ºC at night with maximum temperature of 400C during the day. Furthermore, result show that 10ºC is the base temperature of maize below this, the growth will be zero. 25º ─ 38ºC is the optimum temperature for best or highest yield.
Authors and Affiliations
G. A. Afuye, V. N. Ojeh, B. A. Okunlola, V. F. Adejokun
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP321430
- DOI 10.9734/JGEESI/2017/34670
- Views 60
- Downloads 0
The Emerging Population Increase and Its Environmental Challenges and Remedies in Iringa Municipal, Tanzania
The study has shown that the environmental challenges encountered in Iringa and most other urban areas in Africa are due to the anthropogenic activities arising from the influxes of migrants from rural areas. The urban a...
Predictive Mapping for Groundwater within Sokoto Basin, North Western Nigeria
Scarcity of water within and around Northern Nigeria is no longer a wieldy issue. There is an over reliance on groundwater, and this has led to an increase in the number of bore-holes drilled in order to augment the wate...
Evidence of Variable Earth-heat Production, Global Non-anthropogenic Climate Change, and Geoengineered Global Warming and Polar Melting
Climate models evaluated by the IPCC are based on the assumptions that: (1) Heat derived from the Sun is constant; (2) Heat derived from within the Earth is constant; and, (3) Anthropogenic contributions to atmospheric w...
Dimensional Basin Morphometry and Discharge in the Coastal Plains Sands of Ikpa River, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria
This article investigates the relationship between discharge and dimensional morphometry in Ikpa River Basin. Five-dimensional morphometric parameters were generated using topographic maps (sheet 322 NE; sheet 322 SE; sh...
Geospatial Analysis of Land Use/Cover Dynamics in Awka Metropolis, Nigeria: A Sub-pixel Approach
This study aimed at characterizing the urban Land Use/Cover (LU/C) types and their spatio-temporal changes in Awka Metropolis, Anambra State from a sub-pixel perspective. The study made use of Landsat satellite imageries...